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Many clients and individual therapists think that group therapy
is second-class treatment. I am not one of those people. My 32 years
of clinical experience has repeatedly demonstrated that group therapy
is the treatment of choice for many people. Why don't more clients
and therapists feel this way? When one really thinks about it, it
becomes apparent that most people have not experienced empathy or
support in a group setting. In fact some of the most remembered
and painful experiences have occurred in our families - the first
group most of us have been a part of. Then, add to that what it
was like not being chosen for the team or the school play, or being
called on in class and being unprepared. When we think of positive
experiences where we have felt recognized and appreciated, these
have occurred mostly in one-on-one interactions. As a result, when
looking into therapy it is natural for people to think of individual
therapy.
But the truth is that some wonderful things do happen in a therapy
group. I interviewed Grace (all names in this article are, of course,
fictitious), a woman who wanted to be in a group but who had a shameful
secret that she said she would never talk about in the group. I
told her that bringing up this subject or not was up to her. In
only her fourth week in the group she decided to tell the group
her secret. People empathized with what Grace had had to deal with
in her life and wondered what it had been like for her to keep it
to herself all these years. They gave her credit for the courage
it took to tell them. Instead of the shame she expected to feel,
she felt great relief and acceptance.
Consider another example. A relatively new member, John, was unable
to make a meeting because an urgent situation arose unexpectedly.
However, he never left a message about his predicament for the group
leader to announce at the meeting. When John came to the next meeting,
a few group members inquired about where he had been the previous
week. John was annoyed, feeling that the group was being intrusive
and critical. As the group discussed the matter with John, it became
apparent that it never crossed his mind that anyone might have been
concerned or worried about him. Such caring was outside the realm
of his experience. The emergence of this information sensitized
the group to the amount of deprivation John had suffered in his
life. Their appreciation of this fact, in turn, had a softening
affect on John's attitude toward the group.
I hope you can see from the few examples I have cited why I am so
positive and enthusiastic about the helpfulness of group therapy.
People do not simply talk about their strengths and difficulties
in group therapy; they exhibit these qualities in their interactions
with other people in the group. By helping the group evolve a safe,
trusting and cohesive environment, the leader makes it possible
for group members to do important psychotherapeutic work. Whether
the work has to do with interpersonal feedback, reworking family
of origin difficulties, problems with competition or authority,
revealing shameful secrets or learning about boundaries, group therapy
can provide group experiences that are much more positive and healing
than those of one's early memories. I hope this discussion will
convince you to consider group therapy as an excellent way to learn
more about yourself and your interactions with other people.
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